Hello and happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend.

Join Talent Tuesdays!

Looking for top talent? Starting Tuesday, February 12th, we'll be sending a weekly talent update called Talent Pill - a free newsletter that sends two high-performing candidates right to your inbox every Tuesday. Candidates seeking new opportunities that want to be featured in Talent Pill can apply here.

If you have your entrepreneurial sights set on China and want to take your shot at €1.5M in investment prizes, don't miss the BCN presentation of the 3rd China Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition at EADA business school tomorrow (Tues) @17h.

Ok, that's it from me. Have a great week and we'll see you out there!

Startup & Investment News

• Spanish language digital voice assistant Sherpa.ai gets €7.5M

• Barcelona savings app Goin closes a €2.2M investment round

• Spanish e-learning startup Capaball closes a €500K investment

• Catalan sports e-commerce startup Deporvillage reached €45M in revenues, a 28% increase, & becomes profitable

• Barcelona HR startup Woffu grows revenues by 90% to €700K

• It's been a great week for Barcelona's e-voting startup Scytl:

• - Scytl wins €8.6M contract to manage Spanish May elections

• - Scytl wins 2019 Innovative Practice Award by the Zero Project for its support of independent living and political participation

• TAPP Water has helped to avoid the use of 10M plastic bottles in 2 years

• Barcelona startup Badi was featured on the BBC

• Catalan startup Iomob opens 2019 as a rising star of Smart Cities Solutions

• Spanish startup Keepler arrives in Barcelona & opens a hub

• Spanish VC Proa Capital closes its new private equity fund after raising €500M

• Spanish VC Columbus launches a €70M fund aimed at investing in health science companies

• Barcelona VC Encomenda Smart Capital invests in 12 startups in its first 12 months

• La Salle-URL & CZFB launch BMP Accelerator, a new program focused on the real estate world

• Spanish telecom firm Grupo MASMOVIL & Inveready launch MASventures accelerator

• Catalonia attracted 40% of all Enisa investment in Spain in 2018, Madrid comes in second with 27%

• Barcelona startup profiles, interviews & success stories:

• - Airning: helping flight passengers to defend their rights

• - Florster: send flowers & watch them being delivered

Tech News

• Barcelona remains an attractive spot for international firms:

• - Asics bases its European innovation centre in Barcelona to collaborate with startups

• - US video game company Scopely announces plans to double their number of employees in Barcelona

• - Japanese chemical company Kao Corporation expands its business from Catalonia

• - Korean Asiana Airlines opens Iberian headquarters in Barcelona

• - German supermarket chains Aldi & Lidl eye Barcelona expansion

• Taxi Wars: Episode VI:

• - Taxi drivers in Barcelona decided to end their strike

• - Uber and Cabify threaten to pull out of Barcelona over new ride-hailing restrictions

• - Cabify later denied these claims, stating they'll continue to operate in Barcelona, integrating taxis in their app

• - Cabify also published an open letter demanding that the Government reconsider plans for new law that will require VTCs to be booked 15min ahead of drives

• - Cabify also proposes a mobility fee as an alternative solution to the Government's current plans that would make VTC business operations virtually impossible and pointless

• Mobility & transport news:

• - Barcelona's airport reaches all-time high with 50M passengers in 2018

• - Barcelona's Government votes in favor of a new tram on the Diagonal but doesn't confirm timeline or budget

• How Colau's 30% rule might affect house prices in the metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona

• INDESUP! is boosting entrepreneurship in the sports sector in Catalonia

• Spanish tech news site Kippel01 is on stand-by as they take time to rethink their future

Good Reads

• The Spanish startup ecosystem in 2018: the growth, the ingredients, the giants

• 34 public Spanish startup exits during 2018

• Despite Brexit: Europe's startup hubs are failing to connect

Great Events This Week

• Tue, 29 Jan @19:00: DrinkEntrepreneurs #33

• Wed, 30 Jan @8:30: 8th Conference of the Sport Management Master: ‘Technology, Big Data and analytics in sport’

• Wed, 30 Jan @18:00: #geomob BCN meetup focused on geoinnovation – for fun or profit

• Wed, 30 Jan @19:30: Workshop: How to speak and connect like a TEDx speaker

• Thu, 31 Jan @19:00: Neuroscience of Digital Distractions

• Fri, 1 Feb @13:30: Revolución 4.0: Rediscover the meaning of technology. IoT, AI, AR/VR y Big Data

See the full event calendar here.

Startup Jobs In Barcelona

• Iomob is looking for a:

• - Blockchain Engineer

• - Software Engineer - Backend

• - React Native Mobile Software Engineer

• Touchstream is hiring a Python Developer

• Digital marketing agency Bourbon Creative is looking for a Freelance Tech Writer (Native English)

See the full job board here.